World

April 16 (Asia Today) — China’s economy grew 5.0% in the first quarter, exceeding expectations despite concerns over the impact of the Iran conflict, official data showed Thursday.

The National Bureau of Statistics said gross domestic product rose 5.0% from a year earlier, topping the 4.8% forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters and Bloomberg.

The stronger-than-expected growth was driven by manufacturing and exports. Industrial production rose 5.7% in March from a year earlier, while retail sales increased just 1.7%, highlighting weak consumer recovery.

High-tech industries showed particularly strong momentum. Output in the sector rose 12.5% in the first quarter, with industrial robot production up 33% and integrated circuit output increasing 24%. Manufacturing accounted for about one-third of overall economic growth.

The impact of the Iran conflict has so far been limited. Bloomberg reported that China’s efforts to bolster energy security, along with prolonged deflationary pressures, helped cushion the shock from rising oil prices. However, some effects were visible, including a 2.2% decline in refined oil production in March.

Domestic demand remains a key concern. Real per capita consumption rose just 2.6%, while wage growth slowed. The urban unemployment rate reached 5.4%, the highest level in a year.

Investment indicators were also weak. Fixed-asset investment increased 1.7% in the first three months of the year, while real estate investment fell 11.2%. Private investment declined for the first time outside the pandemic period.

Analysts said China’s economy continues to show an “imbalanced structure,” with growth driven by exports and manufacturing while domestic demand lags. Falling sales of automobiles, home appliances and furniture further point to soft consumption.

Policy responses are expected to remain measured. With growth exceeding expectations, pressure for large-scale stimulus has eased, and the government has set a relatively modest annual growth target of 4.5% to 5%.

Still, targeted fiscal support and cost-cutting measures are likely to continue to address rising energy prices and external uncertainties. Some economists also see room for monetary easing, including a possible reduction in banks’ reserve requirement ratio.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260416010005290

April 17 (Asia Today) — Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party, has delayed his return from a U.S. visit by three days at the request of U.S. officials, party aides said Thursday.

Park Jun-tae, Jang’s chief of staff, told reporters at the National Assembly that Jang had originally planned to return later in the day but would now arrive early Sunday.

“While heading to the airport for departure procedures, special circumstances arose, leading to an extension of his schedule,” Park said.

The delay was made at the request of officials from the U.S. Department of State, Park added. He said speculation about possible meetings with Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio remained unconfirmed.

Some members of Jang’s delegation have already returned to South Korea, while others remain in the United States.

Jang departed for Washington on April 11 and was initially scheduled to return Friday via Incheon International Airport.

During the visit, he met with U.S. lawmakers including Bill Hagerty and delivered a speech at the International Republican Institute, where he emphasized the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

He also criticized the South Korean government’s policy toward North Korea, arguing it prioritizes dialogue over deterrence and risks weakening trust in the alliance. Jang called for “peace through strength” to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260417010005446

April 17 (Asia Today) — Japan is moving to strengthen a government-wide system to boost defense exports, including creating a centralized control structure and easing restrictions on what military equipment can be sold overseas, according to media reports.

The government plans to establish a director-general-level coordination body involving key ministries to oversee arms export policy and execution, the Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday.

Tokyo is also considering revising guidelines tied to its Three Principles on Defense Equipment Transfers to remove restrictions on five categories – rescue, transport, patrol, surveillance and mine countermeasures – that have limited exports so far.

According to Reuters, the government could move as early as this month to revise the guidelines, with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party already approving the direction at a party meeting Sunday.

The policy shift reflects a broader strategy with two main goals: expanding the range of weapons Japan can export and overhauling how those exports are managed.

Japan has effectively limited defense exports to non-lethal equipment in the past but is now moving to include systems with lethal capabilities. At the same time, the new coordination body would bring together the foreign, defense and industry ministries, along with private companies, to align export approvals, regulatory changes and sales support.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in parliament that easing arms export restrictions would contribute to economic growth, signaling a shift toward treating defense exports as part of industrial policy rather than solely a security measure.

Japanese officials have argued that expanding exports is necessary to sustain the domestic defense industry, maintain production capacity and secure supply chains that are difficult to support through domestic demand alone.

Analysts say the move goes beyond regulatory changes and represents a broader effort to build a national system designed to facilitate arms sales.

If implemented, the revisions would significantly lower barriers to exporting finished weapons, marking a major shift from Japan’s traditionally restrictive defense export framework.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260417010005454

April 18 (UPI) — Just one day after the Strait of Hormuz was declared open, Iran has blocked the passage again, citing “breach of promise” by the United States, and has begun firing on commercial ships.

Iran accused the United States of “banditry and piracy under the guise of a so-called blockade.”

“Until the United States ends its interference with the full freedom of movement for vessels traveling to and from Iran, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain under intense control and in its previous state,” Iran’s semiofficial Fars media said on X.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open after a cease-fire in Lebanon.

But by Saturday morning, that had changed. President Donald Trump said the United States would continue blocking Iranian ships.

Gunboats fired on a tanker in the strait Saturday morning, CNN reported the United Kingdom Maritime Traffic Organization said.

The UKMTO said a tanker captain reported that it was “being approached by 2 [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] gun boats,” about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.

The captain said there had been no radio warning before the ship was fired on.

“Tanker and crew are reported safe,” UKMTO posted.

Just hours later, a container ship was hit by “unknown projectile which caused damage to some of the containers” about 25 nautical miles off the coast of Oman, CNN reported the UKMTO said. In the second event, the UKMTO did not say who was responsible for the attack. No fires or environmental damage have been reported.

Trump reported Saturday that talks between Iran and the United States were continuing but that “Iran got a little cute,” CNN reported.

“We have very good conversations going on,” Trump said. “They got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years.”

“They wanted to close up the strait again, as they’ve been doing for years. They can’t blackmail us,” the president said.

“We’re talking to them, and you know, we’re taking a tough stand. They killed a lot of people. A lot of our people have been killed,” Trump said.

On Friday, Trump told CBS News in a phone interview that Iran had “agreed to everything.”

He said that the United States would remove Iran’s enriched uranium but would not involve ground troops.

“No. No troops,” he said. “We’ll go down and get it with them, and then we’ll take it. We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better. We would have done it the other way if we had to.”

“Our people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go get it. And then we’ll take it to the United States,” he said.

But hours later, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement, “Enriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances. … Transferring uranium to the United States has not been an option.”

April 18 (UPI) — The only life jacket worn by a person who survived the sinking of the Titanic ever put up for auction was sold for $906,000 on Saturday.

The jacket, which was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a passenger in first class who boarded lifeboat number 1, sold for nearly twice the roughly $473,000 it was expected to sell for., and reported.

The life jacket, sold during an auction that also included a handful of other Titanic artifacts, was sold by Henry Aldridge & Sons in Britain to the Titanic Museum and Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Branson, Mo., auctioneer Andrew Aldredge told The BBC.

Aldridge said that the life jacket is the only one from a survivor that has been offered for auction since the ill-fated ship set sale 114 years ago.

“It reflects the ongoing interest and passion for the story of the Titanic, and its passengers and crew,” he said, calling the opportunity to buy it a “once in a lifetime opportunity for collectors.”

Francatelli, who at the time of the sinking was husband of Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gorden, a Scottish landowner and the 5th Baronet of Halkin, was the sister of novelist Elinor Glyn, and herself a famous dress designer who ran several famous salons in London, Paris and New York, according to Aldridge & Sons’ auction listing.

Her survival has carries slight controversy because the lifeboat that her husband shepherded several people onto as the Titanic was going down – for reasons that remain the subject of questions – lowered from the ship with only 12 people aboard, despite having room for 40.

The Titanic Museum and Attraction, which The Independent also reported purchased the life jacket, has since March 2025 had on display five of the 14 known life jackets to have survived the sinking, it said.

Most recently, the life jacket has been on display not only at the Pigeon Forge museum, but also at Titanic Belfast, a museum in Ireland.

April 18 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV said he has no interest in debating President Donald Trump as he flew to Angola for the third leg of his 11-day trip to Africa.

In Cameroon on Thursday, Leo told attendees at a prayer meeting that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”

“The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild,” he said.

While traveling on the papal plane from Cameroon to Angola Saturday, Leo said his words were not an attack on Trump or his actions in Iran.

He told reporters that his speech was written “weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself, and on the message of peace I am promoting,” NBC News reported. “It looked like I was trying to debate the president, which is not my interest at all.”

Last Sunday, Trump lashed out at Leo over his criticism of the war in Iran, claiming a reason the American was named pontiff was because the Catholic Church was trying to curry favor with his administration.

Leo responded saying, “I have no fear of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”

Aboard the plane Saturday, Leo vowed to “promote peace in our world,” and said that his Africa trip is to “be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa.”

Leo landed in Luanda, Angola, around 3 p.m. WAT Saturday and was welcomed by President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.

The pope met with Angola’s authorities and others at the Presidential Palace in Luanda Saturday. In his speech, he acknowledged those who were affected by recent flooding in the Benguela Province, a coastal area south of Luanda. More than 30 people were killed.

He said he is praying for the victims and noted the national response, that Angolans are “united in a great chain of solidarity in support of those affected.”

Leo said the country’s most important resources are not material but human. “Your people possess treasures that cannot be sold or stolen. There is within them a joy that not even the most adverse circumstances have been able to extinguish,” he said.

The pope is scheduled to celebrate mass at Kilamba, a Luanda suburb, before travelling to the Shrine of Muxima. On Monday, he will travel to Saurimo, where he will visit the elderly and celebrate mass, before returning to Luanda. Tuesday morning, he travels to Equatorial Guinea for his final stop on the trip.

April 17 (Asia Today) — Corporate loan delinquency rates in South Korea are rising three times faster than household debt, increasing pressure on banks as lending expands, financial data showed Thursday.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the delinquency rate on corporate loans at domestic banks reached 0.76% at the end of February, up 0.09 percentage points from a month earlier and 0.08 points from a year earlier.

By comparison, the household loan delinquency rate rose 0.03 percentage points from the previous month to 0.45%, highlighting a much steeper increase in corporate defaults.

The corporate delinquency rate marked its highest level in nine months. Small and medium-sized enterprises recorded a rate of 0.92%, with small corporations at 1.02% and sole proprietors at 0.78%, indicating rising stress across the sector.

Delinquency rates among large corporations also increased, reaching 0.19% – the highest level in 28 months – suggesting that financial strain is spreading beyond smaller firms.

The trend comes as banks expand corporate lending under policies aimed at boosting “productive financing.” Outstanding corporate loans at the country’s five major commercial banks totaled about 859.8 trillion won ($573 billion) as of the end of March, up roughly 15.0 trillion won ($10 billion) in three months.

Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for about 79% of the total, while large corporate loans made up about 21%.

Regulators said rising delinquencies are most pronounced among smaller firms but warned that broader economic uncertainty could push default risks higher across the corporate sector.

Banks are responding by tightening risk management while maintaining lending growth. Major lenders are strengthening oversight from initial loan screening to post-loan monitoring, using systems such as early warning tools and AI-based credit assessments to identify high-risk borrowers.

Industry officials said the combination of expanding corporate lending and rising delinquency rates is rapidly increasing the burden on banks to maintain asset quality.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260417010005508

April 17 (Asia Today) — South Korea will provide 462.2 billion won ($308 million) in emergency support for small businesses and exporters affected by the prolonged Middle East war, the government said Thursday.

Han Seong-sook, minister of SMEs and Startups, visited South Gyeongsang Province to inspect local business conditions and pledged swift policy support for small businesses, exporters and young entrepreneurs.

Han first toured a “glocal” commercial district in Tongyeong, where officials highlighted a local revitalization model that has helped boost sales in the area. The ministry said it plans to expand support for local entrepreneurs and foreign tourism infrastructure beginning in 2026.

Han then visited the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency in Jinju and emphasized special extensions of policy loan maturities and expanded emergency financing. The ministry is pushing to disburse more than 90% of the supplementary budget for logistics support by June to help exporters cope with rising shipping costs.

At Gyeongsang National University, Han discussed expanding the government’s “Startup for All” project with aspiring young entrepreneurs before heading to K-Tech, a defense exporter, for the final stop of the trip.

Companies at the meeting cited soaring raw material costs and higher logistics expenses caused by shipping delays as major difficulties. Han said it could take considerable time for logistics to normalize and for Middle East energy facilities to be fully restored.

“This is a critical moment for a closely woven support safety net to prepare for the fallout from the war,” Han said, pledging to relay companies’ concerns through an inter-ministerial emergency economic response system and to mobilize all available policy tools.

The ministry said the emergency support is part of a broader 1.69 trillion won ($1.13 billion) supplementary budget approved this month, with 462.2 billion won ($308 million) earmarked to minimize damage to export-oriented small and medium-sized firms from the Middle East conflict.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260417010005540

April 17 (Asia Today) — Kang Chang-il, the new senior vice chairman of South Korea’s Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, called Thursday for joint efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and said he would work to revitalize the council’s public role.

Speaking at his inauguration ceremony in Seoul, Kang said many South Koreans are familiar with the Unification Ministry but know little about the advisory council itself. He said he would work to make the body more visible and active in promoting peaceful unification.

Kang said the council has strengths in gathering public opinion and building consensus on peaceful unification, and that it should use that role to recommend policy to the president and broaden public awareness.

He said inter-Korean relations remain difficult amid debate over a “two-state” framework and described the current moment as serious. Kang also referred to messages from Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who is serving in that post as of April, and said recent remarks by President Lee Jae-myung had been positively received by North Korea.

“I hope we can all join forces to gradually resolve issues in inter-Korean relations,” Kang said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260417010005550

Some of our finest contemporary writers got their laurels Friday night at the 46th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.

At the awards ceremony, which opens the annual L.A. Times Festival of Books weekend, Oakland-born writer Amy Tan and literary nonprofit We Need Diverse Books received achievement honors, and finalists in 13 other categories became prize winners.

The presenters and awardees who took the stage balanced a spirit of playfulness — Times senior editor Sophia Kercher called the weekend’s festival “my personal Coachella” and Times columnist LZ Granderson saluted his fellow “booktroverts” — and one of reverence as they celebrated writing as an instrument for advocacy, imagination and history-keeping.

As Bench Ansfield virtually accepted his award in the history category for “Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City,” which exposes a pattern of landlords setting residential fires to collect insurance payouts, he said, “It’s a scary time to be a historian in the United States.”

“Our field, like so many other fields, is under attack,” Ansfield said. “To understand the crises in front of us, we have to understand our history.”

Among the crises highlighted was AI encroachment, the subject of science and technology category winner Karen Hao’s “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.” The AI expert and investigative journalist’s book is a critical investigation into the rise of OpenAI and its impact on society.

In Hao’s acceptance speech, read by presenter Jia-Rui Cook in her absence, the author said she “can’t help but be disturbed by how the themes of this book have grown more relevant by the day.”

“That said, I have never been more hopeful of our chance to advance a different future,” the author said, adding that L.A.’s history of resistance movements — including the recent Hollywood strikes — made it an apt place to accept her award.

“Gatherings like this are one of many radical acts of resistance against the imperial project that seeks to strip us of our meaning and our humanity,” Hao said. “Let us continue to resist defiantly together and let us remember lessons in history: When people rise, empires always fall.”

Tan echoed Hao’s sentiments as she accepted the Robert Kirsch Award, which celebrates literature with regional and thematic connections to the Western United States, for her acclaimed portfolio of writing exploring identity and cultural inheritance — often through the lens of the immigrant experience.

In her speech, “The Joy Luck Club” writer said that while she never particularly considered herself a “political writer,” her stance on that has changed as government actions have made her think critically about her own identities.

“My birthright and that of millions of others is now being argued before the Supreme Court, and no matter what the outcome is, it’s been a kick in the gut to know that those in the highest echelons of government and those who support them believe that we don’t belong.”

As an author, Tan said, “I imagine the lives of the people I write about,” and that act of compassion, for writers, inherently “reflects our politics and our beliefs. And so yes, I am a political writer.”

Later, Caroline Richmond, executive director of We Need Diverse Books, celebrated the work of her nonprofit — the recipient of this year’s Innovator’s Award — which has made it so her daughter “has never really had to look that far to find herself on the page.”

Still, she said ongoing book bans are threatening those strides toward a more diverse literary marketplace.

“The work is very much far from over,” Richmond said, “but I have to remind myself that the people banning books are never the good guys in history, and it’s up to us in this room and beyond — as readers, as book lovers — to fight back because diverse books, we really need them now more than ever.”

As the ceremony wore on, the room was as charged with celebration as it was with resistance.

When writer-editor and former child actor Adam Ross accepted the Christopher Isherwood Prize for “Playworld,” a semi-autobiographical novel about a teen growing up in 1980s New York, he gleamed with joy about his second novel being out in the world and finding readers.

“When it became clear to me that I was writing something that was going to be a lot bigger and take a lot longer than I planned, I promised myself I would use all of my ability to capture my experience of a particular era in an enduringly magical city, and to hopefully express it in such a way that any reader willing to embark on a journey with me, but upon finishing close the book and say, ‘Yes, I know exactly what that was like,’” Ross said in his acceptance speech.

“Winning this award makes me feel like I succeeded in that endeavor,” the author said.

Other winners included Ekow Eshun, who topped the biography category for “The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them,” which parses Black masculinity as embodied by various civil rights activists, philosophers and other visionaries, and Bryan Washington, who accepted the fiction award for “Palaver,” which details the tense reunion of a Jamaican-born mother and her queer son, who are navigating years of estrangement in Tokyo.

The 31st annual L.A. Times Festival of Books will host 500-plus authors and celebrities and 300-plus exhibitors across more than 200 events including panels, book signings and cooking demonstrations. Top-billed guests include musician-memoirist Lionel Richie, veteran actor and recent Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award honoree Sarah Jessica Parker, and the mastermind behind “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David.

The schedule for the Saturday-Sunday event can be found here.

Here’s the full list of finalists and winners for the Book Prizes.

Robert Kirsch Award

Amy Tan

Innovator’s Award

We Need Diverse Books

The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose

Adam Ross, “Playworld: A Novel”

The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

Andy Anderegg, “Plum”

Krystelle Bamford, “Idle Grounds: A Novel”

Addie E. Citchens, “Dominion: A Novel”

Justin Haynes, “Ibis: A Novel” | WINNER

Saou Ichikawa translated by Polly Barton, “Hunchback: A Novel”

Achievement in Audiobook Production, presented by Audible

Molly Jong-Fast (narrator), Matie Argiropoulos (producer); “How to Lose Your Mother”

Jason Mott, Ronald Peet, and JD Jackson (narrators), Diane McKiernan (producer); “People Like Us: A Novel”

James Aaron Oh (narrator), Linda Korn (producer); “The Emperor of Gladness: A Novel”

Imani Perry (narrator), Suzanne Mitchell (producer); “Black in Blues”

Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, Steve West, and Jim Seybert (narrators), Kelly Gildea (producer); “The Correspondent: A Novel” | WINNER

Biography

Joe Dunthorne, “Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance”

Ekow Eshun, “The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them” | WINNER

Ruth Franklin, “The Many Lives of Anne Frank”

Beth Macy, “Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America”

Amanda Vaill, “Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution”

Current Interest

Jeanne Carstensen, “A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis”

Stefan Fatsis, “Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary”

Brian Goldstone, “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” | WINNER

Gardiner Harris, “No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson”

Jordan Thomas, “When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World”

Fiction

Tod Goldberg, “Only Way Out: A Novel”

Stephen Graham Jones, “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter”

Mia McKenzie, “These Heathens: A Novel”

Andrés Felipe Solano translated by Will Vanderhyden, “Gloria: A Novel”

Bryan Washington, “Palaver: A Novel” | WINNER

Graphic Novel/Comics

Eagle Valiant Brosi, “Black Cohosh”

Jaime Hernandez, “Life Drawing: A Love and Rockets Collection” | WINNER

Michael D. Kennedy, “Milk White Steed”

Lee Lai, “Cannon”

Carol Tyler, “The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief”

History

Char Adams, “Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore”

Bench Ansfield, “Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City” | WINNER

Jennifer Clapp, “Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters”

Eli Erlick, “Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950”

Aaron G. Fountain Jr., “High School Students Unite!: Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America”

Mystery/Thriller

Megan Abbott, “El Dorado Drive” | WINNER

Ace Atkins, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World: A Novel”

Lou Berney, “Crooks: A Novel About Crime and Family”

Michael Connelly, “The Proving Ground: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel”

S.A. Cosby, “King of Ashes: A Novel”

Poetry

Gabrielle Calvocoressi, “The New Economy”

Chet’la Sebree, “Blue Opening: Poems”

Richard Siken, “I Do Know Some Things”

Devon Walker-Figueroa, “Lazarus Species: Poems”

Allison Benis White, “A Magnificent Loneliness” | WINNER

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction

Stephen Graham Jones, “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter”

Jordan Kurella, “The Death of Mountains”

Nnedi Okorafor, “Death of the Author: A Novel”

Adam Oyebanji, “Esperance”

Silvia Park, “Luminous: A Novel” | WINNER

Science & Technology

Mariah Blake, “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals”

Peter Brannen, “The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World”

Karen Hao, “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” | WINNER

Laura Poppick, “Strata: Stories from Deep Time”

Jordan Thomas, “When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World”

Young Adult Literature

K. Ancrum, “The Corruption of Hollis Brown”

Idris Goodwin, “King of the Neuro Verse”

Jamie Jo Hoang, “My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser”

Trung Le Nguyen, “Angelica and the Bear Prince” | WINNER

Hannah V. Sawyerr, “Truth Is: A Novel in Verse”

Transit fares from New York to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for World Cup matches will rise to $150, with officials citing costs not covered by FIFA, drawing criticism as other host cities kept prices lower for years.

April 17 (UPI) — An Irish man who allegedly laundered money and trafficked drugs and firearms throughout Europe was arrested in Dubai after officials in Ireland tracked him around the world.

Law enforcement officials in the United Arab Emirates said in a statement that Daniel Joseph Kinahan was arrested on Wednesday after a joint international criminal investigation, The Guardian and The Washington Post reported.

Officials from both Ireland and the UAE noted that the arrest comes after work in recent years to rein in “serious and organized crime.”

“The arrest comes as part of efforts to combat cross-border crime,” Dubai police said in a statement.

“The arrest followed the receipt of a judicial file from Irish authorities detailing the suspect’s alleged crimes and his involvement in an international criminal organization,” they said.

Kinehan is one of the leaders of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group and the founder of the MTK Global boxing management company.

In addition to Irish authorities, he was also being pursued by U.S. law enforcement because he was “believed to run the day-to-day operations” of the cartel, the Biden administration said when it announced sanctions against the group in 2022.

Officials in Dubai issued an arrest warrant after getting word from Irish authorities as part of a larger operation between Ireland and the UAE to stem criminal enterprises that operated in or through the two nations.

The report from Irish law enforcement had traced in him around the globe, including the use of fake names and other methods of avoiding arrest, and Kinehan was arrested within 48 hours of the the UAE warrant being issued.

Finding a revolutionary artist during cocktail hour at the opening gala of Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Gaze over the rim of your glass to notice Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha talking closely beside the DJ booth. Mark Bradford strides by with a beneficent smile — towering over everyone, including AI art maker Refik Anadol. Todd Gray, whose 27-foot-long photo sculpture “Octavia’s Gaze” graces the hallway near the building’s south entrance, chats with Wim Wenders, who is making a documentary about architect Peter Zumthor’s controversial new $724 million concrete behemoth. Zumthor is there too — in bright red sneakers — talking to LACMA director and chief executive Michael Govan before Govan turns to take a selfie with immersive installation artist Do Ho Suh.

Jeff Koons, left, talks with Ed Ruscha at the opening gala for LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries on Thursday.

(Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times)

Lauren Halsey walks by in her distinctive white shirt, long shorts and ball cap, beset on all sides by friends and admirers.

“It’s beautiful, it’s fantastic,” she said of Zumthor’s creation.

It’s an artist’s world on this breezy evening, as the sun sets golden over the looming gray concrete of the building, and the lights that gird the structure’s underbelly flicker on and twinkle like stars overhead. In this milieu, Hollywood A-listers like Will Ferrell and Sharon Stone, who occupy separate cliques nearby, pale in comparison to the mingling artistic luminaries.

Architect Peter Zumthor, left, and Michael Govan attend LACMA’s opening gala for the David Geffen Galleries. Govan said he hopes the building lasts 500 years.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s ready for us,” Bradford said of the building. “It’s ready for artists. I walked in and I was overwhelmed with a space that was made for us, and I can’t wait for everything I can do.”

“Snazzy. Does the job,” said Ruscha, looking bemused and speaking in short bursts of headline-style phrases like one of his famous paintings.

Gray said he was glad to see his art during “magic hour,” noting how the setting sun shone warm through the building’s glass windows — diffused by textile designer Reiko Sudo’s chromium spattered curtains — to imbue his photo installation with a distinctive warmth.

“I’ve never seen it at dusk,” Gray said with a smile. “It was a totally different experience to see it at that time of day. And [the light was] actually yellow, so the piece changed … and the concrete warmed up because of that warmer light. It was a lovely chromatic experience, which is wonderful because then you’re aware that you’re experiencing something in a very particular space and time.”

James Goldstein, the owner of architect John Lautner’s famed Sheats-Goldstein Residence, which he promised as a gift to LACMA in 2016, agreed with Gray that the gloaming light was lovely.

“If it were up to me the curtains wouldn’t be closed,” Goldstein said, noting that the curtains in his home — which is also made of concrete and glass — are never closed, and that the views from the Geffen Galleries are extraordinary and worth leaning into.

Koons said the building, and the moment in time that defines its unveiling, has the potential to bring the world together.

“It’s an amazing evening for all these people that love and believe in the value of art and humanity to be together and to celebrate architecture,” said Koons, noting that he looks forward to showing his art inside the new galleries. “LACMA is a place that’s here for future generations and Peter’s building is amazing.”

Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin were among the major Hollywood stars at the gala.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Chatter about the building could be heard in every cluster of guests. One group talked about how striking it was to see ancient Greek sculptures juxtaposed against the rush of traffic along Wilshire Boulevard; another discussed their hope for more landscaping, noting that the concrete ground and concrete building begged for some lush greenery.

Govan basked in the limelight nearby, shaking hands and doling out hugs and back pats. His vision for the building has been 20 years in the making, and he’s faced an enormous amount of pushback, but the structure is here and his enthusiasm for it has not waned.

“I’ve just always imagined people in the building — it’s for people,” Govan said. “And I want it to last 500 years, I want those little drill marks to accumulate, I want change. I want this to be something that generations will care for.”

Zumthor also seemed deeply pleased with the moment, saying, “I’ve always been happy,” and emphasized that working in L.A. taught him to embrace a certain frontier-like lack of refinement.

LACMA’s staff was elated, especially those who have been watching the project develop for decades and absorbing the large amounts of criticism that have accompanied its manifestation.

Stephanie Barron, LACMA’s senior curator and modern art department head, said, “This is the first night with our art world colleagues and donors, and it’s thrilling to see how they are responding, and how they are a little confused, at first, about where to go. Then they realize, that’s the point of this — and they are just going with the flow and they are smiling and happy and looking at the art. It’s a game changer.”

“I’ve been here nearly 20 years and seeing this going from concept to reality has been the greatest thing,” said Tiffany August, associate vice president of LACMA’s people and culture department, which oversees human resources. “So much soul and heart and effort went into this.”

Arun Mathai, budget officer and head of finance, has also been with the museum for 20 years and said it’s exciting to finally be on the other side of the project. “To see it happen in such a beautiful way is very gratifying. The notion of no hierarchy, of wandering around and seeing art from all over the world, from all time periods beautifully juxtaposed, it’s just so enlightening,” Mathai said.

Michael Govan, left, Peter Zumthor, Holly J. Mitchell and Mayor Karen Bass attend the opening gala.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Later, during a four-course meal of broiled oysters, tuna tostadas, braised Wagyu short ribs and berry meringue, various LACMA supporters, including board co-chair Tony Ressler; life trustee and major donor Lynda Resnick; and L.A. County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, whose district houses LACMA, took to the stage in a tent set up west of the new building to sing the praises of the Geffen Galleries — and to note that the evening’s dinner raised a record-setting $11.5 million. (The Geffen Galleries’ ongoing fundraising campaign now stands at $869 million.)

“This is a great, great example of what can be achieved when government and philanthropy work hand in hand for the public good,” Ressler said before thanking Govan for “taking bold risks.” “Your legacy is now permanently etched in the stunning galleries that will open to the public very soon.”

Mitchell was full of praise for Govan and Zumthor.

“The Geffen Galleries didn’t come to fruition overnight. And frankly, nothing that changes the status quo ever does,” Mitchell said. “To Michael, Peter, David [Geffen] and our dear Elaine [Wynn], thank you for your patience, because visionaries like yourselves often have to wait for the rest of the world to catch up with you.”

Resnick got a big laugh when she described her first meeting with Govan and his wife 21 years ago.

“An exquisite couple walked into [vice chair of the board] Bobby Kotick’s house. There was Michael Govan, a true intellectual, Zen thinker, movie star handsome, and under consideration to run LACMA. By the end of the evening, I was sitting on his lap feeding him peeled grapes.”

She concluded on a more serious note, calling the Geffen Galleries a “masterpiece of public art.” “Only one person in the world could have done all this with the signature elegance and his provocative style,” she said of Govan. “Generations will cross that bridge and watch the cars stream below, and feel the power of being embraced by art above all the gorgeous chaos of our city.”

After a standing ovation, Govan introduced musicians Sean Watkins, Gabe Witcher and T Bone Burnett, who sang — quite fittingly — “The Times They Are A-Changin.’”

April 16 (Asia Today) — South Korean tech company Naver is expanding its artificial intelligence capabilities with robots operating throughout its headquarters, as the firm ramps up investment in next-generation technologies.

At the company’s second headquarters in Seongnam, south of Seoul, robots are deployed across the building, which spans from a basement level to 28 above-ground floors. The facility has been described by the company as functioning like a “living laboratory” for AI and robotics.

About 100 service robots, known internally as “Rookie,” assist employees by delivering food, beverages and packages, as well as transporting documents. Workers can summon the robots through a mobile application and verify their identity upon arrival.

The robots are designed to move autonomously throughout the entire building. They can pass through security gates, use elevators and navigate between floors without human assistance, a capability that sets them apart from robots typically confined to a single floor or designated area.

“The ability for robots to use elevators and travel across the entire building is a distinctive feature,” a company official said, adding that the machines are positioned for easy access and operate based on time-specific tasks.

The robotics technology is being developed by Naver Labs, a research subsidiary focused on advancing automation systems. Inside the facility, various robots – including wheeled service units and bipedal machines – are being tested as part of efforts to build a broader robotics ecosystem.

A key component of the system is “ARC Brain,” a cloud-based platform that allows centralized control and coordination of multiple robots. The system is designed to improve efficiency by enabling simultaneous management of a fleet of machines.

“Improving productivity by having robots perform tasks traditionally done by humans is essential,” the official said. “That requires an integrated system capable of managing multiple robots at once.”

Beyond robotics, the company is also strengthening AI features in its core search business. It plans to introduce an “AI tab” following the rollout of its AI briefing service last year.

Naver reported record results in 2025, with revenue reaching 12.35 trillion won ($8.2 billion) and operating profit of 2.21 trillion won ($1.47 billion). Market forecasts suggest the company will post another record this year, with revenue projected at 13.41 trillion won ($8.9 billion) and operating profit at 2.45 trillion won ($1.63 billion).

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260416010005223

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and United States President Donald Trump have said that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial vessels.

Araghchi declared on Friday that the strategic waterwat was “completely open” in line with the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect the previous day.

Trump affirmed on social media that the strait was open, later claiming that Iran had agreed to “never close the Strait of Hormuz again”. However, he also posted that the US naval blockade on Iranian ports would “remain in full force”.

In parallel, France and the United Kingdom hosted a meeting in Paris involving about 40 countries, which agreed to play a role in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once the US-Israeli war on Iran stops.

The blocking of tankers from using the strait, through which about 20 percent of the world’s crude flows on a typical day, has led to a global surge in fuel prices.

World leaders have welcomed the news with cautious optimism amid mixed messages from the US and Iran:

United States

“The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage, but the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Minutes later, he issued another post saying the US Navy’s blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.

Later, Trump told the news agency AFP that a deal to end the war on Iran was “close”, saying there were “no sticking points” left between Washington and Tehran.

Iran

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the strait was “declared completely open” and would remain open for the remaining period of the 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, which took effect overnight Thursday into Friday.

Some Iranian state media reports later appeared to contradict Araghchi’s announcement, with a senior military official telling state media that only nonmilitary vessels would be allowed to transit with permission from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.

The Fars news agency, which is close to the IRGC, noted a “strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council”, the de facto top decision-making body in the country, as the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, remains unknown.

United Kingdom

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer cohosted a summit on a potential military mission to secure the Hormuz Strait with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Friday, with about 30 to 40 countries participating in person or by video conference.

On the sidelines, Starmer cautiously welcomed news of the strait’s reopening but said it must become “both lasting and a workable proposal”.

He said the UK and France would lead a “strictly peaceful and defensive” multinational mission to protect freedom of navigation as soon as conditions allow.

France

Speaking after the gathering, Macron said, “We all demand the full, immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties.”

“We all oppose any restrictions or system of agreements that would, in effect, amount to an attempt to ⁠privatise the strait – and, of course, any toll system,” he added.

Macron’s office said roles for members of the international coalition working to reopen the strait could include “intelligence, mine-clearing capabilities, military escorts [and] communication procedures with coastal states”.

Germany

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany could contribute mine clearance and intelligence capabilities to the international mission, but would need parliamentary support and a ″secure legal basis″ such as a UN Security Council resolution.

He said he wanted US involvement in the international mission to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. “We believe this would be desirable,″ he said.

Trump later appeared to rebuff his overtures, saying on social media that he had received a call from NATO, but declined its assistance in no uncertain terms.

Finland

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who participated in the Paris summit, said on X, “We welcome Iran’s announcement on opening the Strait. Lasting solutions require diplomacy,”

United Nations

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio ⁠Guterres on ⁠Friday welcomed the opening ‌of Strait of Hormuz by Iran ⁠and said ⁠it was “a ⁠step in the ⁠right ⁠direction”.

International Maritime Organisation

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the UN shipping agency said, “We are currently verifying the recent announcement related to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, in terms of its compliance with freedom of navigation for all merchant vessels and secure ‌passage.”

Shipping companies

The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said several things had to be clarified before any ships can transit the strait, including the presence of mines, Iranian conditions and practical implementation.

“If this represents a step towards an opening, it is a welcome development,” said Knut Arild Hareide, CEO of the association, which represents 130 companies with some 1,500 vessels.

A spokesperson for Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd Shipping Company said, “We are now beginning to assess the new situation and the risks involved … For the time being, therefore, we are still refraining from passing through the strait.”

In a statement, Denmark’s Maersk said: “We have noted the announcement. The safety of our crew, vessels and customers’ cargo remains our priority. Since the outbreak of the conflict, we have followed the guidance of our security partners in the region, and the recommendation so far has been to avoid transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

“Any decision to transit the strait will be based on risk assessments and close monitoring of the security situation, with the latest developments also included in the ongoing assessments.”

Markets

Oil prices plunged after Iran’s announcement that passage for commercial vessels would remain “completely open” for the duration of a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

“This news is having an immediate impact on markets,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “This is the biggest development so far during the ceasefire, and it gives hope that the war will end soon, and supply chains will return to some normality.”

Garret Anderson, the often misunderstood and always lethal Angels slugger who starred in the 2002 World Series, has died of a heart attack. He was 53.

Anderson’s most memorable moment was belting a decisive three-run double in Game 7 of the only World Series ever played by the Angels. Yet consistency over 17 seasons — 15 with the Angels and one each with the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves — was the hallmark of the taciturn left fielder.

“The Angels Organization is mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons, Garret Anderson,” owner Arte Moreno said Friday in a statement. “Garret was a cornerstone of our organization throughout his 15 seasons and his stoic presence in the outfield and our clubhouse elevated the Angels into an era of continued success, highlighted by the 2002 World Series Championship.

Garret Anderson, who hit the game-winning three-run double, runs with the World Series championship trophy after the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series in Anaheim on Oct. 27, 2002.

(Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)

“Garret will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Angels fans for his professionalism, class, and loyalty throughout his career and beyond. His admiration and respect for the game was immeasurable.”

Nicknamed “G.A.,” Anderson is the Angels leader in games (2,013), at-bats (7,989), hits (2,368), total bases (3,743), extra-base hits (796), doubles (489) and runs batted in (1,292). And he achieved it all without fanfare.

“Garret didn’t seek the limelight,” said Mike DiGiovanna, The Times’ Angels beat writer throughout most of Anderson’s career. “A classic lunch-pail guy. He was a superstar, he just didn’t act like it.”

Fans occasionally booed Anderson for a perceived lack of hustle. He didn’t dive for fly balls and on rare occasions failed to run hard when he hit a ground ball.

His teammates, however, backed him without hesitation, saying he was one of the smartest players in baseball and made the game look easy through hard work.

“He doesn’t dive for balls because he gets there quicker than most guys,” center fielder Darin Erstad said in 2003.

Fans cheered in shock when Anderson made a diving catch against the Minnesota Twins in 2002.

“But, see, that’s what I’m talking about,” he said. “I never should have had to dive for that ball. I got a bad jump. I study hitters. I have an idea of where the ball is going. I don’t dive because I don’t have to.”

The Angels’ Garret Anderson watches the ball after hitting a two-run homer against the Toronto Blue Jays in the seventh inning of a game in Anaheim on July 4, 2008.

(Mark Avery / Associated Press)

Anderson’s understated demeanor fit well in an Angels clubhouse stocked with young, rowdy personalities.

“We have so many emotional guys on this team, Garret is a calming force,” teammate Tim Salmon said in 2003. “He’s criticized for a lack of emotion, but I think it’s good.”

For his part, Anderson possessed a wry sense of humor and wasn’t above poking fun at himself.

“Interesting,” he told The Times Bill Plaschke with a faint smile. “I used to be called lazy. Now that we win a World Series, I’m called graceful.”

After Anderson retired in 2010, he worked as a television analyst for the Angels.

Garret Joseph Anderson was born June 30, 1972, in Los Angeles. He attended Granada Hills Kennedy High, where he starred in baseball and basketball. He remained close to his baseball coach, Manny Alvarado.

“I’ve lost a handful, some of them at a young age, but this one we had a relationship for a long time,” Alvarado said Friday. “I have a ton of memories, some of them from day one and some just recently. The one thing that comes to mind he was kind of an old soul. A lot of major leaguers have a lot to learn from him.

“He was very humble and always picked up the phone. He made it to a lot of alumni games, was very generous.”

Anderson was drafted in 1990 by the Angels in the fourth round and made his major league debut July 27, 1994 versus Oakland before going on to become one of the most productive players in franchise history.

Anderson had a stretch of eight consecutive seasons appearing in at least 150 games for the Angels and played in at least 140 games in 11 of his 17 major league seasons. He was inducted into the Angels’ Hall of Fame in 2016.

“Teammates and fans came to appreciate him for his consistency,” DiGiovanna said. “He was like a metronome.”

In addition to his World Series Game 7 heroics, Anderson batted .300 with four doubles, two home runs and 13 RBIs during the 2002 postseason. He finished fourth in American League Most Valuable Player voting that year.

In 2003, he became the first player since Cal Ripken Jr. to become both the Home Run Derby champion and MVP of the All-Star Game. Anderson batted .293 with 287 home runs in his career.

His final season came with the Dodgers in 2010. At age 38 he batted only .181 but provided a settling influence on young Dodgers stars Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.

The Angels will honor Anderson by wearing a memorial patch on their jerseys the rest of the season. There will be a moment of silence and a tribute video before Friday’s game.

Anderson is survived by his wife, Teresa, daughters Brianne and Bailey and son Garret “Trey” Anderson III.

Times staff writers Eric Sondheimer and Bill Shaikin contributed to this story.

Caracas, April 17, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela has reestablished ties with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a seven-year hiatus.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the news on Thursday night, calling it a “great achievement of Venezuelan diplomacy” and a “very important step” for the Venezuelan economy.

“This is the result of months-long negotiations that the Venezuelan far-right unsuccessfully tried to sabotage,” she stated in a televised broadcast. “Good has triumphed.”

The IMF announced the “resumption of dealings” with Venezuela in a statement on Thursday, stating that the decision was “guided by the views of IMF members representing a majority of the total voting power.”

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stated earlier this week that the IMF had been approached by Venezuelan authorities at a technical level and that the Caribbean nation “desperately needs help.”

The World Bank likewise issued a statement disclosing the resumption of dealings with the acting Rodríguez government. Venezuela’s last loan with the institution concluded in 2005.

Venezuela had its relationship with the IMF suspended in 2019 after the first Trump administration and allies recognized the self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó as the Caribbean nation’s legitimate authority.

In March, the White House recognized Rodríguez as Venezuela’s “sole leader” and later withdrew sanctions against her, while US officials spoke of efforts to reincorporate Caracas into the IMF fold.

Though relations were officially frozen in 2019, Venezuela had sought to distance itself from the Washington-based institution more than a decade prior. In 2007, former President Hugo Chávez formally withdrew Venezuela from the IMF and the World Bank, calling them “weapons of US imperialism.”

Chávez repeatedly denounced the US-controlled multilateral institutions’ role in promoting debt and underdevelopment in Global South countries and pushed for the creation of lending institutions as part of Latin American integration efforts. Under Chávez’s predecessors, Venezuela implemented draconian IMF-conditioned structural adjustment policies that saw over half of Venezuelans living in poverty by 1998.

Last year, President Nicolás Maduro stated that Venezuela had “broken the shackles” of the World Bank and the IMF and was instead building its own “self-sustainable model and relations with a new world.”

Venezuela’s priority will be accessing US $5.1 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) that it is entitled to as an IMF member. In 2021, the lending institution issued $650 billion amid the Covid-19 pandemic as an effort to help countries boost reserves and address fiscal needs. 

However, Venezuela was blocked from accessing the funds as the IMF refused to rule on the country’s legitimate authorities.

Caracas’ reengagement with the IMF and the World Bank also comes amid growing speculation about the fate of Venezuela’s sizable foreign debt. The Caribbean nation owes as much as $170 billion from a combination of defaulted bonds, unpaid loans, and international arbitration awards that have accrued interest for years as US sanctions battered Venezuela’s economy and cut it off from credit markets.  

Venezuelan bonds have been rallying in recent weeks following Washington’s rapprochement with Caracas as creditors bet on a debt restructuring deal that can bring significant windfalls.

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, the Rodríguez administration has fast-tracked a number of pro-business reforms, including in the hydrocarbons and mining sectors. Upon enacting the Mining Law on Thursday, the acting president thanked Trump, Rubio, and other administration officials for their “good disposition” in establishing “cooperation.”

Rodríguez recently announced further plans to overhaul the South American country’s labor, pension, and tax legislation, while also identifying state assets that are “not strategic.” The Cisneros Group, one of Venezuela’s largest business conglomerates, recently announced the raising of funds ahead of expectations of a “wave of privatizations.”

Since January, the Trump administration has imposed control over Venezuelan oil revenues, mandating that royalties, taxes, and dividends be deposited in US Treasury accounts. In a congressional hearing on Thursday, Assistant State Secretary Michael Kozak stated that “around $3 billion” have moved through the dedicated accounts. 

He did not specify what portion of the revenues has been returned to Caracas, only that the funds had been used to pay public sector incomes and import oil industry inputs, while blocking any transactions with China, Cuba, and Iran.

Earlier this week, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued new restricted licenses allowing transactions with the Venezuelan Central Bank and public banks that are expected to facilitate the partial return of seized Venezuelan export revenues.

On Thursday, Venezuelan authorities additionally announced a change in the Central Bank leadership, with Luis Pérez replacing Laura Guerra as president of the institution. Guerra had been appointed to the post in April 2025 by Maduro.

Pérez is an economist who had served on the BCV board of directors since 2018. In his social media profile, he describes himself as a cryptocurrency enthusiast.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Fusagasugá, Colombia.

Host cities may have made a commitment to provide transport to games at the usual cost, but the prices in New Jersey and Foxborough go far beyond that.

Not all cities are the same, however.

Free shuttles, external are being offered in Arlington from Centerport Station, and Kansas is charging $15, external (£11) for a return bus to the stadium from four pick-up points.

Philadelphia has said the usual fare of $2.90, external (£2) will remain in place across the six games in the city.

Concannon added that as more high prices are announced, “this sort of stuff is starting to not surprise us”.

“Every single thing coming out of this tournament so far is just fans getting fleeced,” he added.

“With there being no concessionary prices that’s obviously going to impact families, senior concessions as well.

“Who knows what even a pint of beer is going to cost in the normal bars? What’s food going to be like? And then there’s obviously the tipping culture.

“Costs are just getting higher and higher and higher.”

The prices in New Jersey and Foxborough will hit both England and Scotland fans.

The Three Lions take on Ghana in Foxborough on 23 June, and then head to the MetLife to face Panama on 27 June.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland have two games in Foxborough, against Haiti on 13 June and Morocco on 19 June.

Scotland’s third match, against Brazil, is in Miami – and there is still no information on how fans are being transported to fixtures at Hard Rock Stadium.

The cost of parking at stadiums is also very high, with a space at the MetLife costing $225 (£166). Foxborough is priced at $175 (£129) for one car.

“We’ve already seen England fans putting buses on independently run to get to the game in Foxborough from Boston and Providence,” Concannon said.

“England fans are very, very good at looking after each other and working a way to get there as cheaply as they possibly can.

“But this just hasn’t been made easy – again. All this shouldn’t be something that England fans are having to worry about.

“It just goes to show that the organisation hasn’t been great.”

Last week, Fifa put on sale a new batch of tickets under ‘Front Category 1’ and ‘Front Category 2’.

The seats were in the first rows of lower sections and up to three times the price of a regular Category 1 ticket.

As has been the case throughout the sales process, there was no prior warning that these tickets existed or when they would go on sale. Fifa would not comment on its ticket sales policy.

“It’s not a surprise that these things are getting rolled out and ultimately trying to make as much money as possible,” Concannon added.

“And again, it’s just a shame. It’s a real shame to see.”

April 16 (Asia Today) — South Korea will begin receiving 27 million barrels of alternative crude oil in June, part of a broader effort to stabilize energy supplies and diversify import sources amid disruptions linked to conflict in the Middle East.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the shipments are part of crude secured by a presidential envoy team, with additional policy measures being introduced to support refiners facing supply uncertainty.

A senior ministry official said the envoy team secured about 223 million barrels of alternative crude, excluding 50 million barrels previously allocated from Saudi Arabia. Of that, 27 million barrels are scheduled for shipment beginning in June.

The earlier 50 million barrels are expected to be shipped in April and May through the Red Sea port of Yanbu, with confirmation from Saudi Aramco that deliveries will proceed as planned, the ministry said.

South Korean refiners had faced disruptions despite existing contracts, as shipments were affected by instability and constraints linked to the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil transit route.

The envoy delegation has secured a total of about 273 million barrels of crude from countries including Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Of that, roughly 250 million barrels from Saudi Arabia – which accounts for about one-third of South Korea’s crude imports – are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.

Officials said the government has already secured about 118 million barrels for April and May combined, indicating no immediate risk to domestic supply. Remaining volumes are expected to be shipped sequentially through the end of the year.

In parallel, the government is introducing measures to help refiners diversify import sources. For crude imported between April and June, authorities will ease requirements for refunds of the petroleum import levy and temporarily expand refund limits.

The ministry said it simplified freight cost calculations using an international benchmark index and removed restrictions on shipment volume, duration and frequency. It also temporarily lifted caps on freight cost compensation for diversified imports to expand financial support.

The program is backed by about 127.5 billion won (approximately $95 million) in funding, based on estimated demand from domestic refiners.

Officials said broader reforms may be considered if the situation persists.

The ministry also pushed back against claims that fuel consumption has increased following the introduction of a price cap. Data showed that weekly gasoline and diesel sales fell in five of seven weeks from late February to mid-April compared to the same period last year.

From mid-March to mid-April, after the price cap took effect, total fuel sales declined 12.4% year-over-year, the ministry said, urging observers to focus on overall trends rather than short-term fluctuations.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260416010005112

April 17 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV held a mass on Friday in Douala, Cameroon, in a stadium with an estimated 120,000 people, marking Catholicism’s growth in Africa.

The pope discussed poverty, violence and corruption in his address to the people of Cameroon, where about 30% of the population is Catholic.

About 20% of the world’s Catholic population lives in Africa.

“Do not give in to distrust and discouragement,” the pope said. “Reject every form of abuse or violence, which deceives by promising easy gains but hardens the heart and makes it insensitive. Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality and work.”

More than 37.7 million people live in poverty in Cameroon. The pope shared the story of Jesus multiplying loaves and fish, saying the “miracle” happened when they were shared.

“Yet this alone is not enough,” he said. “The food that sustains the body must be accompanied, with equal charity, by nourishment for the soul. A nourishment that sustains our conscience and steadies us in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering.”

The mass was held at Japoma Stadium on the third day of the pope’s 10-day tour of Africa. He will next visit Angola and later Equatorial Guinea during his trip.

Pope Leo spent Thursday in Bamenda, Cameroon, the epicenter of the Anglophone Crisis or Ambazonia War, an armed conflict between the government and separatist groups that has waged for nearly a decade.

Frenchman Herve Renard, who won AFCON with Zambia and Ivory Coast, departs Saudi role despite World Cup qualification.

Frenchman Herve Renard has been relieved of his duties as Saudi Arabia coach, less than two months before the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in North America.

The 57-year-old had returned for a second spell as Saudi coach at the end of 2024, having led them at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar.

“That’s football … Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup seven times, including twice with me,” Renard told the news agency AFP on Friday.

“And there’s only one coach who has led them through both the qualifiers and the World Cup; that’s me, in 2022. At least there will be that sense of pride.”

Renard, a two-time Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner with Zambia and the Ivory Coast, was in charge of Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2023 before being replaced by Italian coach Roberto Mancini.

From 2023 to 2024, he served as coach of the France women’s team and reached the quarterfinals of both the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ex-Morocco coach Renard was later brought back by Saudi Arabia to succeed Mancini, as the Italian left his role after an underwhelming 14-month stint.

Former Greece international Georgios Donis is reportedly being lined up as the man to take over from Renard. A source close to the negotiations told AFP that talks are under way between the federation and Saudi club Al Khaleej, where Donis has been in charge since 2024.

Saudi Arabia are in Group H at the 2026 World Cup, alongside two former champions, Spain and Uruguay, and debutants Cape Verde. All their group games are scheduled to be played across the United States.

The Arab nation has made six World Cup appearances, with a round of 16 finish in 1994 in the US their best result thus far.

The Saudi team suffered a group-stage exit in the last World Cup in 2022, but made headlines worldwide with a shock 2-1 group win over eventual champions Argentina.

Saudi Arabia is also due to host the 2034 World Cup.